A death threat hung over a Filipino hostage in Iraq yesterday, and the fate of a kidnapped Lebanese-born US Marine remained uncertain.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered no more workers to go to Iraq after Arabic al Jazeera television said gunmen had seized a Filipino there and threatened to kill him unless Manila withdrew its troops within 72 hours.
Relatives of Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun said they had no news of his whereabouts, though Beirut's US embassy said it had credible information the Marine was in Lebanon.
PHOTO: AFP
Hassoun went missing from his unit on June 21 and is thought to have been kidnapped. On Tuesday, his relatives in north Lebanon said they had received word he had been released.
But his brother, Sami Hassoun, told reporters yesterday there had been no news since.
US officials in Beirut confirmed a report from the State Department that it had information Hassoun was in Lebanon, but said he was not in the embassy.
"We have credible information that he is in Lebanon and safe but this is not confirmed," an embassy spokeswoman said.
Kidnappers have seized dozens of foreigners since April to press demands for foreign troops to leave Iraq, to deter foreigners from working with US forces or to extract ransom.
Many hostages have been freed, but at least four have been killed, including an American and a South Korean beheaded by a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraq's interim government, determined to crush foreign Islamist militants and Iraqi insurgents, announced a new security law on Wednesday giving itself powers to declare martial law in defined areas for periods of up to 60 days.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government, which formally took sovereign powers on June 28, has said it plans to restore the death penalty, suspended during the US-led occupation, and offer a temporary amnesty for rebels not guilty of serious crimes.
Gunmen shot and wounded the assistant dean of Kerbala University, Falah al-Safi, as he drove to work in the southern Shiite shrine city on Thursday, police said.
The motive for the attack was not clear, but intellectuals, politicians and bureaucrats are often targeted by insurgents bent on keeping Iraq unstable.
The Philippines, a staunch ally of the US, has about 50 military personnel in Iraq helping in reconstruction, as well as 4,300 civilian workers, many employed by contractors and working in US military bases.
Arroyo's spokesman said there would be a decision "very shortly" in response to the troop withdrawal demand.
Three Filipino workers have been killed in attacks by insurgents opposed to the US military presence in Iraq.
Manila's top diplomat in Baghdad said there was no firm word on the hostage's identity or where he had been seized.
"Until now we cannot establish for sure that he is a Filipino national," charge d'affaires Ricardo Endaya told reporters, adding that the embassy was contacting Iraqi authorities and possible intermediaries to seek his release.
A video tape aired by al Jazeera on Wednesday showed a man in an orange jumpsuit kneeling in front of three gunmen. A banner behind them identified the group as the Khalid bin Waleed Corps of the Islamic Army in Iraq.
It showed the identity card of Hafidh Amer, an Iraqi security company employee the gunmen said they had killed.
Unidentified militants have also kidnapped an Egyptian driver who was delivering fuel from Saudi Arabia to the US military in Iraq, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS